My Documentary Series, Uncovering Oklahoma. Wanting advice.

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Dennis Spielman

New member
Hey, everyone. I would like to share my documentary series, Uncovering Oklahoma, that I've been filming with my Panasonic DVX-100P. It's an online series that showcases things to do and places to visit in Oklahoma for teens and young adults. We typically release a new episode bi-weekly, each with a different theme. The show in geared to young adults, so we keep it fairly short, upbeat, and interesting. There really aren't any travel shows to teens, which I feel makes us pretty unique. Right now, we do this in our spare time with our own money. However, as the show gets better and more popular, I hope to get a sponsor and do it for a living.

There are three episodes, plus a bonus special, are already online at http://www.uncoveringoklahoma.com/ We air the episodes online via YouTube. The production quality has improved with each episode as we've learned from our mistakes. I would like to hear your thoughts on the show. If you live in the state of Oklahoma, I'm open to suggestions for locations (especially near Tulsa as I don't know that area well).

Now, I've been really out of the loop with camera news. I used to be a member here years ago, but I had to sign up with a new account as I couldn't find/remember my old account. I'm hoping to transition to an HD camera when things go well. As I mentioned before, I currently use Panasonic DVX-100P (old skool, I know, but it's a great camera). I would like to go totally tape-less. My computer is an iMac 24-inch with 3.06GHz, 4GB memory, and a NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 with 512MB memory. Of course, I use Final Cut Pro. Knowing my set up and the nature of the show, what camera(s) do you recommend? I think I would mainly shoot in 720p.
 
Dennis:

Congrats on your program, looks really cool! Being Canadian, I know nothing about Oklahoma (except for the Sooners), so I would watch something like this to see what life in the midwest U.S. is all about.

I also have the same imac as you (same specs) and use FCP too. I'm currently using a Panasonic HVX200 with a Firestore FS-100 (160GB drive). You can look on this site to see the quality the HVX200 produces. The Firestore FS-100, well, people either love it or hate it. Personally, I love it, I can record for hours with it and then just upload to my imac through firewire and everything is ready to be edited in the quicktime format. The imac, with your specs, will have enough horses to edit in FCP. You'll need though extra external hard drives to store all the footage though (I have a 1TB drive and will soon need another), I suggest getting a raid unit for this.

There are some great deals on this site and fantastic people to deal with too. I bought my HVX200 on here as well as my Firestore FS-100, my Manfrotto tripod, my pelican case and soon, my Steadicam Merlin. This is the best site out there for DV by far. I've been on other sites like Creative Cow but find it to have sarcastic or unhelpful people on it. dvxuser.com though is the best... great people and lots of amazing info.

Check out the marketplace for cameras and deals, you'll save lots and great a pretty good deal too.

-Dale
 
Hey Dennis

Awesome work there and welcome aboard. I actually live in Tulsa (well just to the north in Owasso, but close enough) if you ever need any help. Lots of development happening downtown right now trying to appeal to the younger crowd with quite a bit of success. I'll throw together a list of some location ideas for you later tonight.

And nothing wrong with the DVX , you've got it looking pretty nice. The biggest upgrade I think you'll get is going to tapeless just because it makes the workflow that much easier. Might look at the HMC150 if the HVX is too much. I'd even be tempted to look at DSLR's too although it really changes alot of workflow things and would be a pretty big change most likely.

Glad to have another Oklahoman around and glad to see some Oklahoma content. Very cool. I'll get some ideas together for you and if you need anything at all just let me know - am actually in and out of OKC quite often if you need some local help.

Jeff
 
Thanks for the suggestions.

I've uploaded the 4th episode, which is dedicated to sweets, on Sunday. Here's the video on youtube. It was pointed out that I miss typed one of the phone numbers, so I think I might remaster the segment. What suggestions do you guys have to make this episode better?
 
Keep the episodes much shorter, lose the hand-held mic and think about losing the hostess all together. If keeping her, just a quick introduction to the place or person is all the viewer needs.
 
Yeah, the hand-held mic was something new we were trying and I don't think it looked visually as good as the ones without it. Any suggestions on how to cleverly shorten the Candy Basket segment?

Jeff, I'm looking forward to your suggestions on Tulsa!
 
Just stick to the meat and taders of the piece. the required info.
Right now, it plays more like a demo reel for a student wanting to be on-air talent. Again, if keeping her, don't think Mike Rowe, think local news. She just needs to prompt them. This could just as easily be done without her from behind the camera.
 
All right, for the hosts I'll do what I've done for episode 3 where you see them before each interview, talking a bit about the place. It worked rather well and I was able to cut a bunch of time.
 
very true. I can tell you on all of my youtube chennels, the higher the production value the fewer the views.
 
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